Christopher Newport University's Medieval and Early Modern Studies Blog

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MRST Courses Spring 2021

on November 11, 2020

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Medieval an Renaissance Studies course listing poster

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Courtly Love: The Strange Medieval Influence Upon Contemporary Romance

Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Courtly Love: The Strange Medieval Influence Upon Contemporary Romance By Eric Silverman In today’s world, most people want a loving, romantic, long-term exclusive relationship, and eventually marriage and family. But, here’s the strange thing: the model for love, sex, and romance most of us inherit/intuit comes from combining a mix of disparate sources that actually don’t fit very together very well. Today we’ll focus on one of the fascinating sources that subtly shapes our romantic sensibilities to show why it is in tension with some of our other relational goals. Courtly love was a relational phenomenon amongst the upper classes in Europe from roughly the eleventh to fourteenth century. It was a model for relationships that gave women more choice and power in relationships than many previous models. It is one of the original models for relationships where interpersonal romantic-sexual relationships...

Black Performers in Early Modern Music: Challenging the Canon

Trumpeters at The Westminster Tournament (1511), via Wikimedia Commons. February is Black History Month, a time to honor the histories and legacies of the African diaspora in the United States and beyond. Here on Christopher Newport University’s Medieval and Early Modern Studies Blog, we’re going to kick off the month by celebrating some Black musicians from 17th-century Europe and the Americas. All too often, the grand narratives of early music history overlook the significant contributions of people of color. Among other challenges, longstanding marginalization and archival gaps muddle access to histories of non-White performers. Nonetheless, today’s researchers are working to overcome such barriers in order to construct a more representative musical canon. Indeed, some of the latest scholarship in music history gives voice to professional Black and Afro-descendant musicians from Europe and the Americans. Let’s meet three of these individuals and consider their broader importance for...

Introduction from Dr. Cartwright

The abbey of La Trinité, Caen. Founded by Matilda of Flanders in 1066 and where her daughter Cecilia became abbess. © C. Cartwright 2013 Hello to everyone at Christopher Newport! As the new medieval historian on campus I’m pleased to be joining the community here. I’m currently teaching our new history courses on the Early Middle Ages (Fall 2015) and the Later Middle Ages (Spring 2016), and working on courses on the Crusades, Medieval England, and the Black Death for the 2016/17 academic year. I’m really enjoying being part of this program, and happy to get the chance to introduce you all to some of what I do. The abbey of La Trinité, Caen. Founded by Matilda of Flanders in 1066 and where her daughter Cecilia became abbess. © C. Cartwright 2013 Very broadly, I study the High Middle Ages. In particular I focus on the Anglo-Norman world of the tenth and eleventh centuries. My research focuses on family networks – the connections and ties of birth, marriage, fostering and friendship...

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